French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin discussed new data on the rise of antisemitism in the country following the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
The government official said on Friday at a ceremony commemorating an Aug. 9, 1982 terror attack at Jo Goldenberg, an Ashkenazi Jewish restaurant, that the first half of 2024 saw 887 antisemitic incidents, almost tripling from the 304 documented in the same period of 2023.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff attended the event, laying a wreath and lighting one of six candles memorializing the six individuals killed in a grenade attack that also wounded 22 others. “The United States stands in solidarity with you,” he said. “We cannot be silent, and we must not be afraid.”
Darmanin warned that antisemitism “no longer hides” and that “it is an insult to the dead, the wounded, the humiliated and our history.”
He also noted that to date, law enforcement has only captured one suspect in the attack.
